Q: Guruji, there are so many different prayers in Hinduism. Some for Devi, some for Vishnu. In each prayer it is said that with regular recitation of the prayer one will be benefited. Now all prayers say the same thing, how do we know which one to follow?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, the first thing to understand is that God is One. No matter by what name you may call him, he is One. That is one thing. Secondly, it is not true that God is pleased by listening to His Stuti (devotional songs or hymns sung in praise of God). When you open the windows of your house, the sunlight just comes inside, isn't it? If you close the windows of your house, do you think the sun will get angry with you? Will the sun suddenly stop giving sunlight if you do this? No! Whatever prayer we do, we do it for our own happiness. We pray to uplift our own selves. We do not pray to please God. People who think that they can please God by fasting are foolish. It is sheer ignorance. Now, do not think that God will give you something very special if you worship him and pray. Yes, if you pray, you will surely get the fruits of your prayer because that is the law of nature. Just like how, when you open the windows, the sunlight will surely come into the house and when the sunlight comes you will get the benefits for sure. See, God anyways loves you very much. But to grow to love God just as He loves you, that is what devotion really is and this is the essence of prayer. Pooja means that which is born out of fullness and completeness. To express a heart which is overflowing with so much gratitude and joy, Pooja is done. ‘Dear God, I am so grateful and blessed. You have given me so much in abundance’ – to express this feeling, we do Pooja. When such a feeling arises within us, then some action inevitably gets linked with it also. One simply cannot resist expressing this deep feeling of gratitude. 

For example, when you meet a very close friend of yours, you shake hands and pat his back to express your affection. This is very common in Punjab (a state in North India). So in this way, we express our love towards each other by doing some sort of action. In the same way, when a devotee is so in love with the Divine, he wishes to do something or give something to the Divine. This is why our ancestors developed the various rituals and methods of performing Pooja. So, whatever we have received from the Divine, we offer it back to him. Pooja is never done to flatter or please God. But in our country, people go and feed sweets to the idol of the deity, so much so that the face of the deity is spoilt. Then you are unable to see the eyes, nose and the mouth of the idol. Furthermore, they offer flowers to every deity’s picture or idol with fear and guilt that if they offer to a flower to Lord Hanuman and not to Lord Shiva, then Lord Shiva will get angry and punish them. All sorts of superstitions arise in the mind. This is why it is said that you must have only one Ishtadevta (referring to the tradition of having a prime or central deity for worship and devotion). All others deities are simply divine forms of the same Divinity. The essence is to see One Divinity in everyone and everyone as part of One Divinity. That is what it is.